1969 Chevrolet Camaro - Black Arts

Fine art broadens your mind and richens your soul; this composition will just plain scare the hell out of you

Then there’s the striking NRE Alien Intake system. Nelson sculpted this all-billet setup to provide superior fuel optimization, but also to have a slick, clean look. The entire system: integral dual throttle bodies, injectors, fuel rails, sensors, and throttle linkage are designed to be cleanly out of sight. The fuel inlet and outlet lines are on the back of the unit, continuing the smooth lines. Atmosphere is force-fed into the Alien via a pair of NREspec 72mm compressors (outfitted with Tial blow-off valves and 44 mm waste gates), which produce up to 36 pounds of boost through an exactingly constructed water-to-air intercooler system. The coolant tank resides where the windshield wiper system once was, while the heat exchanger was precisely contoured to reside behind the air-directing front spoiler. These efforts were essential to getting cool air through the turbos and into the engine. The massive quantities of burnt gas (ignited by an Electromotive crank trigger system with four coils providing the flame) exit through NRE crafted machined billet turbo transitions (allowing for tighter turns than bending allows) and into a custom NRE 321 coated stainless exhaust system: headers with 2-inch primaries and 3-inch four-into-one collectors, dual 3-inch tubes with an X-pipe, and terminating in Magnaflow mufflers. And yet, we’re just getting to the good stuff, and Tom Nelson was happy to fill us in:

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“The most unique feature of the TT engine is its twin injector, dual-fuel capability. When you’re driving around town, the ECU (an Electromotive Tec3R) has you operating on eight primary injectors that run on 91-octane pump gas, but when you get into the throttle (boost), the computer automatically switches on an additional eight injectors.” The system’s twin Aeromotive A1000 pumps draw from a secondary fuel sump, part of the purpose-built Rick’s Stainless gas tank, and feed a pump/race gas mixture into the engine, which allows for stratospheric horsepower levels. “We call this feature NRE ‘Octane on Demand,’” says Nelson. “Run it as low as 700 hp all the way to 2,000 hp,” he reports. “It doesn’t change the way it drives — it just makes it harder to keep it on the road. It’s just like a new car, idling at 800 rpm, loafing around and changing lanes, not like a super car — and then, airplane launch.” The rest of the drivetrain is equally trick, if overshadowed by the beast it’s backing: a Viper-spec, race-prepped Rockland Gear T56 trans further modified to handle the brute power at work here, a McLeod Twin Disc bronze-lined clutch contained in a QuickTime Inc. bellhousing, and a tailor-made prop shaft from The Driveshaft Shop.

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Although this car is all about the motor, it was a nice, slick Camaro before being imbued with superpowers. Case in point, the interior, which is all about black leather. The ’69 came with excellent digs, highlighted by recovered Viper seats (fitted with DJ four-point harnesses), the exquisite custom-built, black leather–covered console, Mercedes black carpet, and black Billet Specialties steering wheel. To this, the Nelson SuperCar Crew added Marquez door and side panels, then rounded out the “more leather” approach by covering the dash in ebony cowhide. They also added a set of NRE custom gauges, though if we were nitpicking we’d say the new speedo comes up at least 100 mph short if you want to actually measure the insane velocities this vehicle is capable of reaching.